Thursday, February 9

Retro Redo Part 1

I love a great deal as much as the next person, and free is always good, but I have to admit I've always been a little wary of "dumpster diving."  I know people that do it, I've heard people talk about it on HGTV, and I've seen the great stuff that people drag home and resurrect.  I've just always been a little to "scared" to do it myself.  That was until last year after picking up my son up at middle school. You see, every year my small town has what they call "City-wide Clean-up."  You can clear as much shit unused treasure out of your house as you want and set it at the curb, and the trash service comes and takes all of it.  What I discovered is that if you scope out the streets before the trash truck comes you can find some diamonds in the rough.


Sorry about the blurry Android photo! And it's not in the photo but the seat cushion was with the chair!

I must confess my middle-schooler wasn't too keen on the idea of me pulling over on the road near his school and dragging this beauty up out of the ditch.  But sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  I promptly drove to our storage unit and unloaded it in hopes that my husband wouldn't discover it and throw it back in the trash!  And there it's been sitting since last May.  Fast forward to last week.  I've been wanting to learn to upholster for quite some time but just didn't ever take the initiative.  I was talking with my sister  again about wanting to learn and she just happened to go online and find a class at a local community college.  Unfortunately, the first class was the night before she found it and it said online that it was closed.  Not to be discouraged, I called up the admissions office and pleaded my case.  As luck would have it the instructor is a very agreeable fellow and gave me permission to start this week.  Yeah!  So last night I loaded up my project and headed to my first upholstery class.  As much as I hoped it could, the upholstery could not be saved, and  as you can see it is missing a front leg, but not to worry a new one has been ordered and is on its way!


This is the tag I removed from the bottom of the chair.  I haven't done any research on the Thayer Coggin Co., but I definitely will.
 After removing the base of the chair, I was on my way to removing all the old upholstery.



All the springs are in great shape.


This is its current state after my first official upholstery class.  I post more as I work my way through the class.




4 comments:

  1. Jenny--Where are taking your class? I've always wanted to learn this too! Tell me where I need to sign up. I have a chaise and a side chair begging for a facelift. Email me bcimthemommy@yahoo.com

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  2. Jenny: I want to go in your pocket to class and learn this. Please continue your photos so we can see how it's coming. And post where you are taking the class so we can all sign up for the next one. I have a rocker and a chair in the basement that need to be re-covered.

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  3. Looks like quite a project - can't wait to see it finished!

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  4. this is so exciting!! and cool! definitely looking forward to the updates, AND to see what new fabric you pick! are you going to try and find something vintage? or look for something modern? can't wait to see!

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